The Mating Rules

Isaac’s POV

I haven’t even fully closed the door before I’m yanking it open again and rushing across the bedroom, stumbling out into the hallway with raelyn’s name on my lips.

I stop in shock when I find the corridor completely empty, where the heck did she go? I know she’s a werewolf but damn, even I can’t run down the entire length of a corridor in a couple of seconds! It’s like she just vanished!

Stepping back into my room, I shut the door quietly and head back into the bathroom, my mind tumbling over the meeting with the enigmatic yet alluring woman.

Turning the shower back on, I step underneath, yelping as the cold water hits me, dammit! I was talking to Raelyn so long that the it seems everyone who went to training today must have come back and used all the hot water.

Ignoring my wolf’s snickers and snide remarks about shrivelled manhood’s, I wash as quickly as I can in the freezing water, before jumping out and drying myself thoroughly, trying to warm up my skin. One thing to know about werewolves? We run hot so when we get in cold water in our human forms? Really damn cold!

Pulling on some jeans and a shirt, I lace up my sneakers and head out of my room, heading down to the foyer where other members of my pack are milling about.

‘Beta’ I’m greeted by Lance, one of our warriors who is only twenty two. This is his first claiming away from our pack and the excitement vibrating off him is tangible. I remember feeling like that, when I was confident that my mate was within reach, that I would find her soon enough.

I clap his shoulder, smiling down at him, ‘morning Lance, you went to training?’

Lance nods, grinning widely, ‘of course Beta, can’t let my fitness slip just because I’m away from the pack. I want my mate to see me at my best when I find her.’

I nod in agreement, pushing down the tinge of jealousy for the other man who is still so sure his mate is nearby.

‘Well, I don’t know about you, but I’m hungry’ I respond, changing the subject which the young warrior seems happy to let me do as he turns toward the dining area.

‘I hope they have those cannoli’s again’ he murmurs to himself hopefully, ‘they were the bomb.’

Heading inside, I’m waved over immediately by Jasper and Ford, so I take my leave from my pack mate and quickly grab some food before heading to the table that seats the future Alpha and Beta.

‘Afternoon Beta’ Ford greets me, ‘we missed you at training this morning, I was hoping to pair up with you, beta against beta’ he winks as I laugh.

‘Ahh sorry my man’ I reply as I sit down and pick up one of the burgers from my plate. ‘decided to take a rain check today but I’ll be down bright and early tomorrow.’

Ford nods, biting into his own burger with gusto, I’ll hold you to that’ he says through his mouthful, ‘I want a chance to show my warriors how strong I am.’

I laugh at his banter, ‘or how strong I am’ I retort good naturedly.

‘Well winner takes on me then’ Jasper chips in, grinning wickedly as Ford and I turn toward him warily.

I have fought both Caden and Hadley on occasion and from the look on Ford’s face, Jasper is just as much of a challenge as my own Alpha and Gamma.

‘Hmm, on second thoughts, I’m happy to call it a tie between us Isaac’ Ford mumbles, making both me and his Alpha laugh.

As I eat, I look around, finding myself checking the faces of each of the Omega’s as they scurry around us refilling the food under the warming lamps and replacing the jugs of coffee that sit in the middle of each table.

None of the girls are Raelyn, so I turn my attention to the few women that are still sat at the tables, trying to discern their rank as I study them, but again, Raelyn is missing.

I frown in confusion, why isn’t she here, does she not eat with the pack? Perhaps she ate earlier when the dining hall opened? And is already back at work, the lunch period is almost over after all.

‘Like the look of any of our females?’ Ford asks, obviously noting where my attention is. ‘Quite a few would be happy to be the chosen mate of a Beta’ he adds with a wink.

I sigh, taking another bite of food to avoid the conversation, I know my time is up but it doesn’t make the knowledge that unless I’m seriously lucky in two days, I’ll be giving up on a dream I’ve had since I was a pup.

‘Want me to introduce you to some of the warriors?’ Jasper asks, studying me with a look of what I assume is sympathy. The man has an idea of how I feel, he didn’t find his mate until he was thirty and he too was being pushed by his father to take a chosen.

It was pure fate that he met Verena, he was travelling to a claiming with his pack members and found a woman who was pulled to the side of the road. She had a flat tyre and was trying to lift the car to change it but the rod for her jack had snapped.

Pulling over to help, Jasper had fixed the tyre for her, before asking where she was going. Verena had replied the same pack name as he was attending, it seemed her cousin lived there, mated to a low ranking warrior, and had invited her to stay as her father had just been killed, leaving her without any family at her own pack. She had been given special permission by the Alpha to attend their claiming even though their packs were not official allies.

She joined Jasper’s convoy and disappeared when they arrived, no doubt to find her cousin. On the night of the claiming, Jasper’s wolf had heard the song and fled to the forest only to find his true mate was the woman he had helped at the side of the road.

Verena liked to joke that if Jasper had just driven past her, that she would have rejected him right there in the forest.

Jasper and Verena’s story was one that had kept me searching for my own mate for so long, I thought if these two could meet by chance like that, then surely it could happen to me too.

I shrugged off my thoughts, it was no good thinking like that anymore, I had made a promise to my parents and myself, this was my last claiming. Maybe it was time to actually start looking for a mate, it certainly couldn’t harm to speak to some of the girls here, see if there was any kind of connection between us.

So I nod at the Alpha, ‘that would be great, thank you’ I reply, ‘as long as I’m not putting you out though.’Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

Jasper waves a hand dismissively, ‘please’ he replies, ‘you are Caden’s Beta, we go back to when we were pups, we always hung out at Alpha meetings whilst our dads talked about boring stuff. The least I can do is introduce his best friend to some people.’

I thank him again telling him I will catch him later as he and his Beta stand up to leave. Finishing my own meal in the now deserted dining hall, I stand up and carry my plate over to the stack of dirty dishes, placing it carefully on the pile as a young girl appears beside me and picks up a large stack that is almost as tall as she is, turning back toward the kitchen as I step aside to give her room.

Reaching the door, it swings toward her as she goes to push through and with a cry of shock, she topples backwards, the plates crashing to the floor around her.

Without thinking, I lunge forward, catching the girl before she hits the floor as a horrified teenage boy looks down at us from the now open doorway.

‘Robert! That is the in door!’ an older woman’s voice yells from behind him before a matronly woman appears and looks down at me and the small girl who is still in my arms.

‘Oh my Goddess! Beta! I am so sorry, are you OK?’ she blusters, immediately shooing at the traumatised boy beside her with orders to get a broom.

‘Of course, but I think this young lady has had a shock’ I reply, gently helping the girl to her feet. She looks up at me shyly, she can’t be more than eleven as she mumbles her apologies.

‘No problem, I’m just glad you are OK’ I start just as a voice reaches me.

‘Robert it’s OK, accidents happen, give it here, I’ll go and clean up the mess’ the voice states before red hair appears around the doorway and the owner stops dead, eyes wide as the matronly woman’s mouth falls open and she suddenly starts to shove at Raelyn’s chest, pushing her back into the kitchen.

‘Raelyn?’ I call, my words halting the older woman as she turns back to me in shock.